ICOMOS 20th General Assembly

ICOMOS 20th Triennial General Assembly

ICOMOS held its 20th General Assembly online from 3 to 16 December 2020. This General Assembly was marked by the election of a new ICOMOS Board and the approval of a resolution declaring a Climate and Ecological Emergency.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Australia ICOMOS unfortunately had to withdraw from hosting the 20th General Assembly in Sydney in October 2020. The Committee has since generously agreed to welcome the 21st General Assembly in Sydney in 2023.

Australia ICOMOS organised a Marker event on 7 October 2020 to acknowledge the excellent work done and wonderful support it had received before the General Assembly foreseen in Sydney had to be cancelled. The Marker event was a live-streamed panel discussion involving the 14 multi-national expert co-chairs of the GA2020 Scientific Symposium streams, on the theme of Shared Cultures Shared Heritage - Shared Responsibility; and included the launch of a special “legacy” issue of the Historic

Participants applaud at the end of the 20th ICOMOS General Assembly

Environment Journal as well as the proposed themes for the Symposium at the 21st General Assembly in 2023. You can find more information and links to the recordings of the event here.

To ensure statutory compliance, the ICOMOS General Assembly gathered online a first time on 23 July 2020 and approved the principle that all further 2020 statutory meetings could take place online.The Advisory Committee, National Committees and Scientific Council meetings took place in six sessions between 12 October and 3 November, via the online conference platform Zoom, and the 20th General Assembly took place in December, also via Zoom, in three sessions on 3, 7 and 16 December. Besides the above mentioned Marker event, the full Scientific

Symposium could not take place. However, the Co-Chairs of the 2020 Scientific Symposium – Ms Ona Vileikis and Mr Steve Brown – will also chair the 2023 Scientific Symposium and are already busy with planning.

More than 900 members registered to participate in

the online sessions of the General Assembly, and 65

ICOMOS National Committees were represented.

This large participation was made possible thanks to the over 175 members, friends and supporters who generously donated to the ICOMOS Giving Day Crowdfunding

campaign “Give heritage professionals the opportunity

to make an impact”. The almost 19 000 € raised enabled ICOMOS to cover the logistical costs of the General Assembly without charging a registration fee and will also contribute to supporting ICOMOS projects.

The 20th General Assembly adopted 22 resolutions, including six on statutory matters, one related to a site (“Rescue the antiquities in situ at the Venizelos Metro Station in Thessaloniki, Greece”), five on other heritage matters and three on organisational matters. You can find the final list of adopted resolutions here.

The General Assembly approved its budget and the proposed General Programme for 2021-2023. Among the resolutions on statutory matters, the General Assembly approved the amendment of the ICOMOS Ethical Principles, following the required six-year review of the text first adopted in 2014. You can find the updated version of this document here. The 20th ICOMOS General Assembly also overwhelmingly approved the resolution declaring a Climate and Ecological Emergency as well as the resolution on

people-centred approaches to cultural heritage. ICOMOS also restated its commitment towards ensuring the growing representation, participation and engagement of Emerging Professionals within ICOMOS and supporting the work of the very active Emerging

Professionals Working Group.

The General Assembly also elected a new leadership, comprising Ms Teresa Patrício (Belgium) who was elected as President, Mr Mario Santana (Canada) elected as Secretary General, Ms Pamela Jerome (USA) elected as Treasurer; 5 Vice-Presidents and 12 members for the Board. The composition of the new international leadership team thus includes representatives from: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Japan, Mali, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Sweden,Thailand,Turkey, the United States of America and Uruguay.

2020 has been a challenging year, but the 20th General Assembly of ICOMOS was deemed a success by many ICOMOS members and observers, as it managed to gather hundreds of heritage professionals world-wide, even when such a gathering could not be done in person due to global circumstances.

ICOMOS’ banner for the fundraising campaign “Help heritage professionals to make an impact through ICOMOS!”

Honours

THE PIERO GAZZOLA PRIZE

The Piero Gazzola Prize was established in 1979 in memory of one of the greatest defenders of the conservation and restoration of historic monuments and sites, and a founder of ICOMOS and its first President.

The prize is awarded every three years at the General Assembly of ICOMOS to an individual or a group of people who have worked together and contributed with distinction to the aims and objectives of ICOMOS. The beneficiary must be a member of ICOMOS and is chosen by a Selection Committee.

ICOMOS is pleased to announce that after careful evaluation, the 2020 Gazzola Laureate selected by the Jury is Amund Sinding-Larsen of Norway.

By advancing and expanding our methods for conserving the world’s cultural heritage, Amund Sinding-Larsen has been generously serving and enriching ICOMOS for four decades. Through his extensive work throughout Europe, America, Africa and Asia, he acquired a profound understanding of the need for cultural heritage activities to consider and respect the long-ignored rights of local communities, religious and cultural minorities, indigenous people and the stewards and caretakers of heritage places.

With valour, conviction and tenacity, he brought these concepts into ICOMOS, where he instituted, guided and secured the continuous financial support for the “Our Common Dignity Initiative” process, which championed the integration of Human Rights into all our work, including in the advisory capacity of ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN to UNESCO and to the World Heritage Committee.

Thanks to Mr Sinding-Larsen’s tenacious work, many important but previously muted voices concerning the multiplicity of values inherent in heritage are now being heard and welcome.

The international attention for the rights dimension continues to grow, and the importance of Mr SindingLarsen’s contribution is recognised by a permanent working group of ICOMOS and IUCN members who carry on with his legacy.

Amund Sinding-Larsen, laureate of the Piero Gazzola Prize.

HONORARY MEMBERS

On the occasion of the 20th General Assembly, ten

members were made honorary members of ICOMOS for their distinguished service in favour of the preservation of monuments and sites:

Mr Dinu Bumbaru (Canada) Ms Sheridan Burke (Australia) Ms Marie-Jeanne Geerts (Belgium) Mr Janis Krastins (Latvia) Ms Jane Lennon (Australia) Mr Esteban Prieto Vicioso (Dominican Republic) Mr Julian Smith (Canada) Mr Andries van den Abeele (Belgium) Mr Henk van Schaik (The Netherlands) Mr Peter Waldhäusl (Austria)

The Newly Elected ICOMOS Board (2020-2023)

president Ms Teresa Patrício

/BELGIUM

secretary general Mr Mario Santana

/CANADA

treasurer Ms Pamela Jerome

/USA